Inventing Words

Mind you, let's call it discovering new words. 

In the last days of 2014, SVT published a list of 40 words new to the Swedish language. Many of them are related to feminism and norms. Mobile zombies and selfie sticks were also included.

Bah. Selfie sticks? Who needs those when you can invent such perfect words as:

Definition of uggmuggla: someone incredibly cute and wise. At the same time. 

Skriver du?

- Skriver du?

Två par solglasögontäckta ögon vände sig frågande mot mig. Väntande? Ointresserade? (Varför ska folk ha solglasögon på sig när de pratar med andra människor?). Två par ögon vars ägare var vana vid att ha, och att uttrycka, åsikter.

- Ibland. Svaret kändes inte gott nog på min tunga. Det var blekt på något sätt, intetsägande. Det klingade lite falskt och mycket osäkert.

- Jag känner mig lite språkhandikappad. Jag kan inte uttrycka mig som jag vill, sade jag till sist. Ärligt. Men jag tror inte att de förstod vad jag menade. 

Walks.

Good morning! 

Since coming to Sweden (we are situated about 40 mins south of Stockholm), we have spent a great deal of time walking and jogging. The nature is lovely here on the countryside as you can see below (the very last photo really symbolises all that is typical for Sweden - in my opinion).
Plans for this week: job-hunting, writing on the dissertation, running x 3 + enjoying the sun.

It really feels like Monday morning because of all the days off. Time to get back to normalcy.

What are your plans?

"Välkommen till landet lagom är bäst" *

Welcome to Sweden!

With the risk of being totally politically incorrect, I never thought I'd live in Sweden. Or even give it a chance.
Well, here we are.

In the country where "lagom"** is best. In a country where the political correctness astonishes even me - and I'm not from that far away.

I think I know Sweden quite well. I don't. So this is surely going to be an interesting journey, yet again. The reason I think I know Sweden is because I have been influenced by Swedish culture since a very early age. When I was little we could only watch Swedish TV. I have always spoken Swedish in school and with the majority of my friends "back home". Our favourite destination for shopping was always Stockholm.

Shopping, TV or Swedish literature do not prepare one for the bureaucracy or the manners or the mentality. Finnish people (generalizing again) have a tendency to say that Swedes are so happy and cheerful - how on earth will I survive that?

Living here will be far easier than living anywhere else. Knowing the language helps. Knowing people helps.

Welcome to this new journey!

* Text from "Sverige" by Kent
** The word "lagom" (enough) deserves its own post. 

Language Mishaps

As we all know, Finland has two official languages - Finnish and Swedish. Hence all product packaging comes in two languages, so that the entire population will understand what they are buying. You get the gist, right?

Unfortunately - and due to the human factor, I believe - things can sometimes go awfully wrong.

The Finnish version of the text tells us that the product was made in Lithuania (Liettuassa), whereas the Swedish translation claims that it is Latvia (Lettland) where the bread was baked.

Maybe I have too little to do at the moment, but I did write an e-mail to customer care asking for more details. I would very much like to know where my bread was baked, but even more I'd like the information to be correct. 

jar sa blíži [the spring is approaching]

The Slovak word for spring, jar, is quite interesting as it reminds of few other Slavic languages. In Polish spring is wiosna, in Russian and in Ukrainian it is весна. In the Balkans the word for spring are quite similar: in Bulgaria one speaks of пролет, in Serbia it is пролеће and in Croatia – proljeće. The only version being close to the Slovak version is – not so surprisingly - the Czech jaro.
My point? There is none – except that it is a lot of fun comparing languages.

One thing I’m often thinking about is the mutual understanding between languages and where to draw the line. Say, I am fluent in Swedish – does that mean that I’m capable to function in Norwegian? My initial reaction is no! Even though I might understand some of the things the other person is saying - I might be able to read a book even – the risk of being misunderstood or to misunderstand is too great! It is very often, however, that I find myself alone with this view. In general I think that the limits of languages knowledge are too fluffy. It is often the case that a long list of languages on the CV looks great, the higher the level the better. Insight into one’s own skills is often forgotten. Countless are the times people have claimed to be fluent in English – until they had to write a piece in advanced English or talk to someone from Ireland. Fluency – to me – means that one is able to communicate fluently no matter the context.

What I’m trying to say here is that one’s language skills are often judged based on what a subjectively written piece of paper says. Sometimes there are such things as language testing, but if these tests are not carried out by professionals, then what kind of a result do you expect?
And then there are those who have worked hard to acquire a foreign language and speak it like a native. That should be the goal and you who have done it, you are a great inspiration!

(this post was supposed to be about the wonders of wearing a leather jacket after a long winter, but oh well – I got a bit carried away)

Swedish vs. Danish

Natalie asked about the relationship between Danish and Swedish. This is an interesting question, because it really depends. I have a Danish friend and when he speaks, I understand most of it. He understands me when I speak Swedish, but finds it problematic when our Swedish friend speaks Swedish. At the same time, there are Danish people whom I don’t understand at all – there have been people speaking to me in Danish and I would only get a few words here and there.

When it comes to the written language, then Swedish and Danish are really close and there are no problems in understanding it.

“You’re Crazy”

…that’s what my friend J told me today when I was getting *slightly* too excited about Czech writers and their ability to write beautifully.

I believe it was said with affection.

So I took it as a compliment.

And in order not to let such a great compliment go to waste, let’s train our language skills.

 

Finnish: olet hullu.

Swedish: du är galen.

Spanish: estás loco/loca.

Slovak: si blázon.

Polish: jesteś szalony/szalona.

Hungarian: te őrült.

Russian: Ты сошел с ума/ Ты сошла с ума

French: tu es fou

Summer 2012 In Swedish

Every summer brings a few songs that will forever take you back to memories of sweaty dance floors, lying on the beach and mango ice-cream. Swedes are especially good at making this stuff.

The Swedish word for this is “sommarplåga” (=summer plague").

Song 2 is a bit funny, because a) it’s in Finnish Swedish (finlandssvenska – the dialect spoken in Finland) and b) it’s about Åland (of all places on the planet).

EU Vocab

I was looking for a couple of concepts on the EU website when I bumped into their multilingual thesaurus. The best thing is that one can choose one or several languages and download the entire list. I’m so excited that I have a list consisting of 6800 (yes!!) terms in 7 different languages that I can study at night before going to sleep. Unfortunately Russian wasn’t among the available languages. The list is available in all EU-languages + Croatian and Serbian.

The thesaurus can be found here.

Languages Are Fun

One of the things I've been doing lately is writing stenographic protocols. Well, as you can probably guess, these days one uses a computer, not a pen.
Anyways, I've had to think a lot about the Swedish language. It's a language I know well but sometimes one bumps into some interesting issues.
Let's take the word "Finnish" - in Finnish, that's suomalainen. Now, in Swedish one can choose between two words - finländsk and finsk - which are very similar but there is a slight but important difference.
Finsk usually refers to Finnish-speaking, while finländsk is something from Finland. So, literature for instance, can be both. Finländsk litteratur = literature from Finland (can be in Swedish, though).
Interestingly enough, this phenomenon exists in Russian too. I think many Russian learners have faced some confusion over the difference between русский and российский.

Friday Music

This is quite old, but the lyrics are wonderful. Also, if you’re interested in the Swedish language and have always wondered about the Scanian dialect, you have a good example here. Lyrics + translation (my own) below.


Timbuktu – Flickan och Kråkan (Mikael Wiehe Cover)- the Girl and the Crow

Jag satt häromdagen och läste min tidning
en dag som så många förut.
O jag tänkte på alla dom drömmar man drömt som
en efter en har tatt slut
Då såg jag en bild av en flicka
med en skadskjuten kråka i famn
hon springer iväg genom skogen
så fort som hon någonsin kan
Och hon springer med fladdrande lockar
hon springer på taniga ben
o hon bönar och ber och hon hoppas och tror
att det inte ska vara för sent

The other day I was reading my paper
It was a day like so many others
And I thought of all the dreams one has dreamt about
that one by one  have disappeared
Then I saw a picture of a girl
with a shot crow in her arms
She’s running through the forest
as fast as she ever could
She’s running and her locks are flying
she’s running on thin little legs
And she’s begging and praying and hoping and believing
that it won’t be too late

Flickan är liten och hennes hår är så ljust
o hennes kind är så flämtande röd
kråkan är klumpig och kraxande svart
om en stund är den alldeles död
Men flickan, hon springer för livet
hos en skadskjuten fågel i famn
hon springer mot trygghet och värme
för det som är riktigt och sant
O hon springer med tindrande ögon
hon springer på taniga ben
för hon vet att det är sant, det som pappa har sagt
att finns det liv är det aldrig för sent

The girl is little and her hair is so light
her cheek is a flaming red
the crow is clumsy and black as night
in a while it will be completely dead
But the girl, she’s running for the life
of a shot bird in her arms
She’s running toward safety and warmth
for what is real and true
And she’s running with shining eyes
she’s running on thin little legs
for she knows that it’s true, what her dad has said,
as long as there’s life it’s never too late

O jag började darra i vånda och nöd
jag skakade av rädsla och skräck
för jag visste ju alldeles tydligt och klart
att det var bilden av mig som jag sett
För mitt hopp är en skadsjuten kråka
och jag är ett springande barn
som tror det finns någon som kan hjälpa mig än
som tror det finns nån som har svar
O jag springer med bultande hjärta
jag springer på taniga ben
O jag bönar och ber, fast jag egentligen vet
att det redan är alldeles för sent

And I started to shiver with anguish and need
I shivered with fear and terror
because it was obvious and clear
that I had seen a picture of myself
My hope is a shot crow
And I’m a running child
who thinks that someone still can help me
and thinks that someone will have answers
And I’m running with a beating heart
I’m running on thin little legs
And I’m begging and praying, even though I know
that it’s already way too late

First step

As a first step toward multilingual blogging, I decided to give new life to my Swedish blog. It’s still being a baby, but do go and check it out if you feel that Swedish is a language that interests you. The blog can be found here.

The Finnish blog will appear soon.

 

Happy Friday, everyone!

Languages

While listening to some random Russians chatting in their native tongue at a table nearby, I was struck with a sudden feeling of…. love, maybe? Being in love with languages might sound like a very silly thing, but I cannot think of a better word to explain this feeling. Languages just make me emotional.
I quickly updated my facebook status with the following summary:

(Irish) English is sexy, (the Savonian version of) Finnish is hot. Spanish can make chocolate melt. Catalan and Dutch are the funny ones, French is the language of philosophy. Swedish is compulsory and German is kinda cool. Polish makes me happy and Hungarian feels like home. But the most beautiful of them all is Russian.

How do languages make you feel?
(I know, I know… I’ve written about this before!!)

Hufvudstadsbladet

Hufvudstadsbladet (abbr. Hbl) is the highest-circulation Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Its headquarters are located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name of the newspaper translates approximately into "The Capital City Newspaper", hufvudstad (modern spelling huvudstad) being 19th century Swedish for capital. The newspaper is informally also called Husis or Höblan.

Hufvudstadsbladet was founded by August Schauman in 1864, and the first edition was published on 5 December the same year. During the late 19th century, the paper was the highest-circulation newspaper in Finland.*

 

And why am I telling you this? Because said newspaper actively follows Russian events (adding a fair amount of news from the CIS). This, my dear friends, makes the coffee breaks at work a lot more interesting for a lover of all things Russian.

 

 

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hufvudstadsbladet

Canciones de amor en sueco

Heard on the radio today at 7.30 a.m…. This is one of the most beautiful songs I know. Those of you who are more interested in the Swedish language, read the lyrics



And a song about another kind of love – the love for life and oneself.

De vs. dem vs. dom

This post is dedicated to Swedish personal pronouns, since so many people (especially native speakers) seem to have a problem with the words de (they) and dem (them). As you can see, we are returning to the eternal issue concerning subjects and objects.

The problem, it seems, is that these two pronouns have an identical pronunciation in standard in Swedish (unlike, for instance, Finland Swedish where the pronunciation is different), which makes writing more difficult. Both words are pronounced dom. Nowadays it’s accepted to use dom in writing, but in my personal opinion, it does not look very educated. 

De is translated into English as they. Dem means them.

• De hittade en katt. They found a cat. De is used when "they" (the third personal plural) do something.
• Katten hittades av dem. The cat was found by them. Couldn’t help myself, and had to throw in a passive.
• Jag talade till dem. I spoke to them. Dem is used when "they" are the object of an action, when something happened to "them". 

Is this clear?

Summer of 2010

Today was the last day of summer. Maybe not for you, or for the meteorologists, but for me it was, and I celebrated it with good food, tasty wine, and the best company a girl could wish for. Plus some socialising with old and new friends on facebook.

It was a summer of feelings: hospital visits, funerals, moving flats, trips, dancing, drinking wine, running in the forest, talking late in the night, skinny dipping, sleeping late, cuddling with the cat, spending quality time with my brother.  

The one memory I will keep in my heart is the lunch that turned into "a couple of glasses of wine", that in turn became a crazy night of laughter, freedom and drunken cycling. Impulsiveness really is the key to a great night out with amazing people.

Life is beautiful, and it will only get better.

Welcome Autumn!

En pojke reser till månen          One boy travels to the moon
En annan, siktar mot solen         Another one aims for the sun
En tredje, kommer aldrig iväg      A third one never gets anywhere
Han viskar: När natten faller,     He whispers: when the night falls
och du, känner dig frusen,         and when you feel cold
då lever, då finns jag här för dig then I will live, I will be here for you

Det är över nu                     It’s over now
Men jag kommer ihåg alla dagar med dig But I remember all the days with you
Dom är över nu                     They are over now
Hör ett bom bom bom som kallar på dig  Hear a boom boom boom that’s calling for you

Ibland ser jag dig gå på bussen    Sometimes I see you on the bus
Ibland ser jag dig på nån gata     Sometimes I see you on a random street
Och alltid verkar du vara på väg   And every time you seem to be going somewhere
Och dom säger, att du lever ensam  And they say, that you live alone
Och dom säger, du lyssnar på Elvis And they say, that you listen to Elvis
Och målar, med sorg i varje färg  And paint, with sorrow in each colour

Det är över nu
Men jag kommer ihåg alla dagar med dig
Dom är över nu
Hör ett bom bom bom som kallar på dig

Det är över nu                    It is over now
Men jag kommer ihåg en helt annan tid  But I recall another time
Den är över nu                    It’s over now
Det hörs en kall, kall vind som sveper förbi There’s a cold, cold wind passing you by

Här kommer solen                  Here comes the sun
Här kommer en sol som säger:      Here comes a sun that says:
Aldrig mera regn,                 No more rain,
aldrig mera regn                  no more rain

Det är över nu

Det är över nu                    It’s over now
Men jag kommer ihåg alla dagar med dig  But I remember all the days with you
Dom är över nu                    They are over now
Hör ett bom bom bom som kallar på dig  Hear a boom boom boom calling for you

Det är över nu                    It’s over now
Men jag kommer ihåg alla stunder med dig But I remember all the moments with you
Dom är över nu                    They are over now
Hör ett bom bom bom som bankar för dig Hear a boom boom boom banging for you
Det är över nu

Det är över nu

By: Gyllene Tider

Träningsvärk

Good morning all you sweet people around the world!! Hopefully you will have a fantastic Friday with a lot of fun and sunshine.
Träningsvärk is a good Swedish word meaning Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) – see, the Swedish word is much more useful. Anyhow, my legs are feeling quite sore after spending a good 20 minutes on doing some sort of jumping, squats and press ups yesterday, followed by 30 minutes of running. And it’s f-ing worth it. I love this feeling, this morning I stayed in bed an extra 10 minutes just enjoying how sore my legs felt. Odd? Probably.
Soon I’m off to the post office: there is something nice waiting for ne there from Slovakia. D’akujem, Ivana :) Surprises from old friends are always nice.